Welcome to Mum&sons

My two eldest boys challenged me to start a cooking blog with simple recipes that we can cook together - and my youngest one has now joined in. I am hoping they pick up some cooking and photograph skills... or that at least they learn to design and run a blog.

Every time we make this my guests are impressed, but it is in fact really easy to make. In Spanish this type of cake is called 'brazo de gitano', ie. 'gypsy's arm', no idea why. We first learned to make these decorations a couple of years ago in a Spanish blog called www.recetadelafelicidad.com and since then we have changed colours, flavours and also slightly adapted the recipe. This is one of my children's favourite combinations of flavours.
You need:
- 30 g melted butter
- an egg white
- 30 g sugar
- 40 g plain flour
- 4 eggs
- 120 more g plain flour
- 25 g cocoa
- 120 more g sugar
- 4 tablespoons apricot jam
- a 250 g tub of mascarpone cheese
- two tablespoons icing sugar

Just mix well the melted butter, egg white, 30 g sugar and 40 g flour and extend this mixture over the silicon mat ensuring the mixture gets into every indentation. If you do not have the mat, put the mixture into a piping mat with a very small nozzle. Print whatever pattern you like, put baking parchment on top of the paper with the pattern and then just pipe the mixture following closely the pattern. Put the silicon matt or baking parchment with the mixture into the freezer for 30 minutes.

Then, preheat the oven at 170 degrees. Whisk the eggs and 120 g sugar well (and electric whisk is best) until it acquires the consistency of whipped cream. Add the flour and cocoa and mix it all with an spoon ensuring you do not loose any air. Put this mixture on the swiss roll mat or on a swiss roll tin with the decorated baking paper at the bottom. Bake it for just 10 minutes (not a minute longer or it will get very dry!)

Take it the roll off the oven and put it over a clean cloth. Roll it over itself and let it cool down for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile mix the mascarpone and icing sugar. When the roll is cold, extend it, spread the apricot jam on top and then the spread mascarpone over the jam. Roll it all tightly ensuring you do not leave any air inside it. Cut the extremes so that you get a nice swirl on the side and serve.